Preventing a cat from getting on the bed

Hello. We're about to be taken possession of by a new 2 year old cat. We don't want him on the bed at any time but we also don't want to keep the bedroom door shut. We don't mind him being in the room. Any suggestions about starting off on the right foot?

You could try by removing him every time he comes up on the bed - not sure it would work though.

If you don't want to close the bedroom door, you may have to close the cat into another room or part of the house at night.

You're not likely to get a whole lot of sympathy from us lot as we are usually all surrounded by or covered in cats when we sleep. Bijou sleeps on top of my head on my new pillow which he seems to love, or he's covered up to the neck with his head on my pillow beside me. I can't imagine not having him in bed with us.

It's an attempt to lessen allergies...

Ok if you want to lessen allergies:

1. Wipe him down daily with distilled drinking water.

2. Use HEPA filters.

3. Get rid of as many rugs as you can.

4. Keep him TOTALLY out of the bedroom.

You really cannot expect a cat to be allowed in a bedroom and not jump on the bed; so keep him out with door closed.

Making the cat stay off the bed Cats aren't dogs, they can't be trained like that, mine still gets on the counter (when I am not around, she is somewhat smarter than to do that in front of me, but not smart enough to care what I want when I am not around ). She cares mostly about herself and will do as she pleases with those litter paws.
You will probably not be able to keep the cat off the bed, I would shut the door and also plan on the fact the cat will sometimes get in anyway. Some cats can open doors and think it is a fun game going where they aren't suppose to so make sure you shut the door completely.
You might want to try the poof can at petsmart called ssscat and put them around your bed

I think some are under-rating the trainability of cats. I think that a cat can be trained (using operant conditioning / Pavlovian techniques etc) not to get on the bed. But I'm not sure how to go about it. It'll be hard to cover the bed in tin foil when it's occupied. The suggestion about SSSCAT is a good one but would still be difficult to use for the bed (might work better to keep him out the room though...).

Originally Posted by kevinm

I think some are under-rating the trainability of cats. I think that a cat can be trained (using operant conditioning / Pavlovian techniques etc) not to get on the bed. But I'm not sure how to go about it. It'll be hard to cover the bed in tin foil when it's occupied. The suggestion about SSSCAT is a good one but would still be difficult to use for the bed (might work better to keep him out the room though...).

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While I appreciate your comment you must keep in mind ALL cats are different. There are so many different ways to keep cats off of counters, bookshelves, etc. and I have been thru all of them (haven't used SSS cat yet due to $$) without any success. However, I know of other cats that have had success with many of the same methods, however, not mine. But if you search the archives you will find brilliant ideas that might work for your cat. They work for others.

Some cats can be "trained", coaxed, encouraged and all of that easier than others, my cat comes when called -usually gets a treat so I have trained her to hear a certain sound and that that means food, fetches, and is great when I clip nails, give a bath, clean ears, etc. all of that is training, but not really in one sense as the cat doesn't mind any of this and it is a different skill set than banishment of something (for instance, never getting on the counters ever with nasty litterpaws).

I do very much understand training philosophies, conditioning, rewards, etc. and make those work for me daily and love to work with my dogs and they love to work too, cats are very much different than dogs. Most all animals behavior can be modified to a degree, however, what you are wishing to accomplish with your cat is not the same. With behavior mods you are usually giving the animal something in exchange for a desired behavior. Slowly shaping or molding or tapping into their needs and wants. You are wanting to extinguish a behavior regardless of if you are or aren't around and you are not substituting anything for avoiding that behavior. This isn’t the same as Pavlov’s. You preparing your cats food and your cat coming running and acting crazy since they know what is coming next are Pavlov type training, there are also other examples of course.

You can squirt the cat with a water bottle when you find cat on bed, but it probably won't have the effect you want, althought it might with some cats, yours might be one of them. But then it is not good to get water in their ears so that is always a concern. And you can't always catch the cat every time cat is on the bed so the msg you send to cat is it is okay if you are on the bed as long as this person is not around. Or you can verbally scold cat when on the bed, but you get the same thing. Cats will do as they please until they have a reason not to, and YOU will be the reason not to, but if you are not around then it can be a free for all.

That is why I suggested the SSS cat. There is another method I can think of that doesn't require humans to be around but it is not encouraged on this forum and I don't think it is right either for this issue when you can shut the bedroom door.

Good luck to you.

My guess is that it will largely depend on your cat's personality. Some cats will cooperate, some won't. Others may disagree with me but I find my female far more willing to work with me than my males. Not a one of my boys give a flip what I think but then they tend to be much more friendly and outgoing than my girl. Maybe they're just more familiar with me and as we all know that breeds content.

If it were me, I'd shut the cat out of the bedroom anyway at least at first. Maybe he'll find a sleeping spot that he thinks is way more cool than your bed and you'll get lucky. Something like a cat tree would be a good investment. I got a little canvass thing from Target that doesn't hold cat dander. Usually at least one cat is on it!

Good luck!

Originally Posted by howtoholdacat

My guess is that it will largely depend on your cat's personality. Some cats will cooperate, some won't.

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I agree!

It will be a trial and error thing. But as you say "to start off on the right foot" I would make sure that the cat has plenty of it's own sleeping spaces.

My apartment is a two bedroom and every room has at least one cat bed and a cat tree. We allow them on the beds but they actually prefer to sleep in their own spaces. The come visit for cuddles in the bed (we are a captive audience there ) but then when it's time for serious sleeping they leave or sleep down at the edge of the mattress....eventually moving to one of their beds.

I agree with wiping them down constantly. I wipe my cats with moist wipes (for cats) 2x a week along with brushing. Cuts down on dander. I also vacuum constantly with a HEPA filter and keep up on dusting etc. It's alot of work I'll tell ya...I wouldn't go through it but I love cats too much to not have a house full!

Some cats will be persistant....so you may have to lock him in another room at night, if you don't want to shut your door. Also, don't play with them on your bed or give them any attention on your bed...this will show them that this area is no good. Maybe make the bed an "off limits" place....play affection etc. happens elsewhere but never in the bedroom.

I had a cat that took the hint after a few pushes off the bed. He would try every night but he would get nudged off the bed and walk away huffing. (he was bed hogger)

Good luck!

Excuse me....ahem....i wrote that LONG reply and than remembered what a friend of mine did to keep her cat off the bed he was peeing on.

She got a duvet cover put sheets of tin foil inside...he never went up on that bed again! The duvet made the bed look made and was easy to take off at night and just throw on again in the morning.

Some cats aren't afraid of noises like that but it's worth a try maybe? or sheets of sticky tape?

I would say that if your allergies are a concern then keeping your cat out of the room is the only real answer. Cats like beds especially when occupied as they are nice and warm and snug. Mine sleeps by my feet now! A suggestion that I think could work is a radiator bed. It hangs over your radiator and is like a fleece material so warm and comfy. Also your cat will sleep at a similar height to you, which would be good as they like to be a bit higher. When I got mine I put a little catnip in it to encourage him to get in it and once he did there was no going back! He loved it. That way he will be in the room and no cat hair up your nose! My kitties one is in the lounge and thats kind of 'his' area! Good luck.

Originally Posted by Althekitty

I would say that if your allergies are a concern then keeping your cat out of the room is the only real answer. Cats like beds especially when occupied as they are nice and warm and snug.

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Agreed! You may be able to train your cat to stay off the bed, but it would probably be exceedingly difficult. Cats just aren't like dogs in that way. I love when my cats snuggle up with me in bed, but it got to the point where I could.not.sleep because all three of them were on top of me. So I finally broke down and shut the bedroom door at night. I miss snuggling with my kitties, but I sleep so much better.

You could do what I do...get some ferrets...buy an expensive two-level FerretNation cage...periodically close off one of the levels for cleaning. If your cat is anything like mine, he will try to live in the ferret cage and forget all about the bed.

In all seriousness, it really does depend on your cat. Mine aren't allowed in the kitchen. That means they don't go in the kitchen when they think we're paying attention. They put on a big show of never crossing the threshold when we're in the kitchen. I've got Lucy clicker-trained to do several things, but I'm having a really hard time teaching her not to do things.

I agree with everyone who said to just shut the bedroom door, especially with the allergies. If you need to make sure you can hear (kids down the hall or whatever), you can do what my dad did and install screen doors. He put screen doors on the grandkids' rooms when they were babies and moved in temporarily. They didn't want the cats in there, but didn't want the babies behind closed doors. If you need to keep the solid door for privacy reasons, I'm sure you could install a screen door without having to remove the solid door.